This is not the book of the movie “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain” (which I found terribly sad), and it’s not purely about Louis Wain, the famous painter of anthropomorphized cats, but Wain’s life is the thread that ties together an account of how cats went from being perceived as useful nuisances to beloved companions and monetizable products in the Victorian and Ewardian eras.

“Catland” is the word Hughes uses to describe the universe that Louis Wain created with his wildly popular, wide-eyed cat characters. Wain’s commercial work coincided with the rise of cats as both pets and commercial objects in their own right, as reflected in the titles of books like “Cats for Pleasure and Profit,” which addressed the early 20th-century fad for cat breeding and showing. This book is packed with so many stories and anecdotes about cats that it feels as kaleidescopic as some of Wain’s own later works. Some of the tales are frankly horrific (the methods used to keep the burgeoning cat population at bay were…not great), some are heartbreaking, and many are astonishing and hilarious. I found myself alternately snickering and shaking my head in disbelief throughout the book. Hughes clearly has a deep knowledge of this era, and her writing is droll and engaging.

If you have even a passing interest in cats, I highly recommend Catland.

Further reading…